Aftermarket parts VS. Genuine. False economy or good deal?
Entry posted by Lorainfurniture
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This may cause a bit of a stir with you guys, but Ill discuss it anyway. Some of you are staunch users of genuine, OE, brand name appliance parts. I am not one of those people. Appliance parts is an expense in my business second only to labor. My rough guesstimate is that I spend about $50,000 a year on parts. If I used exclusively genuine, new parts that figure could easily go up 20%. Perhaps even more.
Control boards:
You can go new, genuine, and pay $200 for it +$60 core, or you can buy direct from core centric (or others) for $98, no core charge. Sounds like a no brainer eh? Well, its more complicated than just money.
1. The defect rate is definitely higher than new. I have purchased hundreds, and hundreds of reconditioned boards form core centric. I would say that 1 in 50 will go bad within 30 days, or be bad out of the box. I can honestly say that I can't remember EVER buying a new board from Servall that was bad out of the box.
2. You are charging your customer "new board" money. I was having a moral dilemma with this one for a while. I was able to find a great solution to this. Guarantee your work parts+labor for 1 year. Chances are that you will never hear from them again, I have only had 2 call backs that were in the 60day-1 year timeframe. The bottom line is this: You are offering your customer MORE than what they would get with a "new" board, and you get to make more money.
3. The core charge. I, like many of you, have had north of $500 is core money sitting in your van. That sucks. Buying a refurbished board saves that dilemma. Its all about keeping more money in your pocket!
Non-complicated generic parts:
Lets talk about the Direct drive lid switch part # 3949247. I use at least 3 a week, between COD calls and my shop. They cost $16.29 at Servall, I get them generic for $2.20. That is a savings of over $14! I have been using this switch for about 2 years, and I have installed a few hundred, at least. I have had ONE fail me. It wasn't even broken, the casting was filled on one of the mounting holes. If you calculate $14 x the 300 or so I have used so far, you will conclude that I have saved myself over $4200. I can apply the same thing to couplings
285753: servall: 6.89, generic $1.50.
285785 14.50, generic $6.50
3363394 15.60, generic $6
Im not even going to tell you how much a complete duet water pump costs. (hint: its less than $20)
Id like to mention one part specifically, GE gas oven thermostat WB20K8. You can get it at servall for $86, or you can buy it from ERP for about $65. I know, its only $20. The thing is this: Both of those parts are made by the some company, Harper Wyman They are the EXACTLY the same part. one comes in a bag, one in a box.
I have used many hundreds of these parts, and find them to be as good, or better than genuine. Again, you will get the very rare premature failure, but its more like 1 in a hundred with this stuff. If you are using this stuff by the dozen, it makes sense for you financially to use it.
Electricky complicated stuff like sensors and door locks.
Quite frankly I don't use them. I had a bad experience with some VMW lid locks that were dirt cheap, like $16. Problem is that none of them worked. I don't use that many of them, so the saving is not that much to me. Ref sensors are dirt cheap for genuine, so I would rather buy those. I will eventually warm up to them again. It takes time.
Conclusion:
There is a time and place for generic parts. I genuinely believe that there are some aftermarket companies that truly want to make a good product, and want to end the monopoly that is OEM. Some companies are out there selling cheap junk. You have to try out a company, or a line of parts before you buy in bulk. For me its worth the slight aggravation based on how much extra money it puts in my pocket every year. Ultimately you should do what you think is best for you and your business.
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